Idly and peppery potato kurma

I was preserving one of my mom’s best dish for the new year . Oh ,what a pity, my modem went wrong on the new year day , just 10 days after its warranty period. Can you imagine? I spent 9 full days without browsing the blogs . mmm mm ….. That was good in a way. I could look at my daily routines in a different way.

Coming to the treasured recipe , this kurma (but we call it kuzhambhu) is perfect for Idlis. My brothers call it ‘duplicate kari kuzhambhu’, as it is much spicy and the taste immitates mutton kurma. (They eat meat.) For a vegetarian like me , it is like a feast to have it with steaming idlis.

Idly:

Though, almost every one of the Indian bloggers has posted this, I feel it is good to share my mom’s secret for a ‘malli poo idly’. Yes, my daughter used to describe my mom’s idly this way , meaning it is as soft and white as jasmine flower.

Ingredients:

Idly rice- 4 and 1/2 cups

Urad dall- 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

Wash the rice twice and soak it with fenugreek seeds for 2-3 hours.

Wash the dall twice and soak it separartely for half an hour to one hour.

Grind the dall first. Add minimum water and sprinkle ice cold water for better frothing. The grinder should run for atleast 30 min. Take the dall out and grind the rice next. When the rice is little coarse, add enough salt , unload and mix well with your hands. Make sure the batter has the right consistency before fermenting. If you pour the batter from your hands, it should run down smoothly and slowly. After a thorough mixing, let it stand for 10- 12 hours. The batter would have risen good if it was in right consistency and had the right amount of salt.

Mix again well and pour in the idly molds and steam cook for 15 minutes. To check the doneness, just touch the idlis and they should not stick to your hands. Take out the molds from the stand and let it cool a while. Dip a spoon in water and use it to unmold the idlis. Hot and soft idlis are ready to be served with chutney, sambhar or kurma.

Please note :

* The ratio for rice and urad dall varies with the variety we use.

* Also it is true that if it is an aged dall and rice , it yeilds more batter.

* My mom has the conventional idli steamer, in which she covers the mold plates with a wet white cotton cloth instead of greasing with oil. It is my belief that it is the cloth that gives the ultra softness to the idlis.

* You can store this batter even for a week in the refrigerator, but always bring the batter to the room temperature before steaming for better results.

* The consistency and salt are the key factors for a perfect idli. If the batter is watery, the idli will not rise on steaming, on the other hand, if it is thick, the idli will be hard.

* You can store the cooked idlis in the refrigerator. When needed, steam it again in the cooker for hot and refreshed idlis. To reheat the idlis in the microwave oven, simply wet the idlis in running water, place them as a layer on a microwavable plate and cover with a wet paper towel and heat them for a couple of minutes.

* For a different redo of the idlis, crumble them and do upma . Find here a lemony version of idli upma .

Peppery potato kurma:

Ingredients:

Potato- 2 number

Oil – 1/2 cup

Fennel seeds- 1 tsp

To grind:

Chana dall /Gram dall- 1/4 cup

Medium sized onion-1 number

Medium sized tomato – 1 number

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Pepper corns- ½ tsp

Ginger- 2 inch piece

Red chilli powder- 2 tsp

Coriander powder – 1/8 tsp

Turmeric powder- few pinches

Method:

Finely chop the potato. Take the ingredients in the ‘to grind’ list and grind with little water and make as a coarse paste. Heat oil in a non stick skillet, sputter fennel seeds, add the ground paste, keep stirring continuously till the raw smells fades away. Once the masala is sauted well and oil oozes out, add the chopped potato and stir slightly. Add enough water and salt according to taste. You can test the spice level at this point.

Transfer the contents to a pressure cooker and cook till you hear the first whistle. The curry thickens very well after cooking . If it is too thick , dilute with water and bring it to another boil.

Note: If you hesitate to use the liberal amount of oil asked for, the chana dal will stick (even) to the (non stick) pan and get burnt , spoiling the whole taste. Also stirring continously is as important as the oil.

Go ahead and try this, I am sure this will be in your favourite list soon.

Updated on Jan 21st :

As Gini wanted to know, I am adding a picture to illustrate how to line the idli mold with damp cotton cloth.

Hi Lakshmi,idlis look just the way your daughter described-malli poo idlis.I used to use idli rava before but have now started using idli rice and I agree,idlis are softer,fluffier and most important,whiter!Never heard of kurma with idlis,will try it sometime.

What you said about your mom using the wet cloth instead of oil is something I once saw my tamil friend do while in the US.She used to have round pieces of cloth with a hole in the middle so as to fit the idli stand-she would wet it and then layer it before pouring the idli batter into the moulds.I am going to try the same method soon as I have been wanting to do it since I saw my friend doing,about 5 yrs ago.Thanks for reminding me of that!:)

I think those are the best looking idlis in the blogosphere. They look so white! This was such a detailed post and I enjoyed reading it. This will be my Idli reference page from now on. That picture with the idli batter dripping from your hands was great too.
I am not sure I understood using cloth to steam the idlis. Could you explain it a bit more?

At last I have managed to make soft and fluffy idlis. Thank you very much for this.The idlis I made were always flat. This time I bought the idli rice and used the proportion you suggested and voila!! soft, perfect idlis.

That was one perfect step-by-step instructions of making White & Soft Idlies. Specially making idlies with “damp cloth” brought back lot of memories for me. This is defntly going to change my menu in a week.

HI
I have been trying make idly with 2:1 ratio using yeast in begining i i use to get good and nice ildy as the days passing but now i dont get better idly if i keep idly atta out side whole night its getting sour and its not getting fermented whats the problm with my batter would u pls let me know a s soon as bye waiting for ur reply

Lakshmi,
I attempted making the kurma. It came out good. But I think it was not perfect.

In your pic I see the oil oozing out of the masala. How long did you saute the ground masala? I kept on stirring the masala in medium heard for close to 20 minutes still I did not see the masala leaving out oil. Please keep in mind that I added the qty of oil as prescribed in the recipe

Hi Seetha,
I never timed my sauting, but I keep the heat low and do till it totally browns well and till the raw smell is out. Definitely it is longer than 20 mins. If you are not done that long, the kurma do taste kind of raw at the end.

Your idlies really look spongy and beautiful. Each time i make idlies, i seem to fail miserably. I am definately going to try this method. Before i experiment this, do you mind if i were to ask a few questions…

1. What brand of idli rice do you use?
2. Can the ratio be idli rice: urad dhal – 3:1?
3. Can i use the same method if i am using a mixie?

I use Swad Idli rice or any brand that is available in the market for that matter.
When you use mixie, the 3:1 ratio is helpful. Whereas, if you use the grinder, 3:1 makes the idlis flat. It also depends on how aged your urad dall is..
Wish you good luck..

Hi Lakshmi,
Tried these for today’s breakfast and I am very happy with the result.
Thanks for the perfect recipe. Previosly using idly rava used to yield disappointing results with some rava smell,no fluffiness and brownish col idlies. But now Iam gonna store this recipe. However haven’t used damp cloth yet but will try that soon.